Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Review - Best of the Bosses

Our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review is here and it’s been one hell of an undertaking. Read on to discover our thoughts on what must be the most highly-anticipated DLC release of this year. 

If you enjoy this review then you should consider checking out our Elden Ring review for our thoughts on the base game too. We also have a bunch of guides for Lies of P, one of last year's best Souls-likes. 

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Review - Back to the Land’s Between

Shadow of the Erdtree is the first, and probably only, DLC release for FromSoftware’s 2022 smash hit Elden Ring. Of course, unless you’re living in a ditch somewhere, then you probably already know that. FromSoftware has proven that their formula works and now almost everyone has been talking about this release, but will it live up to the hype? Let’s be honest, this is FromSoft so...yeah it probably will be. 

As with any FromSoft title, the DLC has to be accessed before you can actually play it, and in this specific case, you’re going to need to be confident in your abilities well before you start out. Not only will you need to fight against a pretty tough optional boss (technically 2), but it’s very clear this DLC has been designed with end-game players in mind. 

Power to the People

Shadow of the Erdtree feels like it’s raising the power barrier from the base game. Even the most OP builds from base game feel like they’re struggling to make a dent against many of the enemies and bosses. So, if you felt like the main game wasn’t challenging enough, you masochist, then you’re in luck. 

What of the rest? If you’re the type of person who struggles with the challenges then you do at least have some new buffs to look forward to. While you’re exploring the new Land of Shadow, you’ll get access to two new blessings that passively increase damage output and reduce damage intake for both you and your spirit ashes. 

There’s also a huge swathe of new weapons, including 8 new weapon types, and new spirit ashes, spells, and armor to make your journey through the shadows a little less harrowing. Some of them are pretty top-notch too, with the Great Katana and Thrusting Shield archetypes in particular being a blast to use if you can find the right weapon arts. 

Harking Back To Games Past

There’s a lot to love about Shadow of the Erdtree, especially if you’ve been a long-time series fan. While Elden Ring gave players a new, highly refined experience in the genre, Shadow feels like it’s revisiting design aesthetics and level designs that have been with the series since the very beginning. 

You’ll see designed aspects of Anor Londo, Byrgenwerth, and various other places from across the series’ history. It’s a nice tinge of nostalgia without feeling like retreading old ground and it was certainly a comfort to me, as the various new bosses repeatedly ground me into the dirt.

The feelings of nostalgia extended into the new weapons too actually. The new 'Beast Claw' class of weapons is literally named the same thing as a weapon from Bloodborne and was a lot of fun getting to play around with them. 

Bosses, Monsters, and More

Easily some of the best aspects of Shadow of the Erdtree are the new bosses and enemies you get to fight. Whether you like a challenge or not, you will probably have to appreciate these new bosses for their incredible visuals, music, and gameplay design. 

For obvious reasons, I won’t go into spoiler territory for the bosses, but much like the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree is stuffed full of bosses. They’re at the end of the new legacy dungeons, they’re strewn all over the open plains and tracks of the overworld, and they’re sequestered away in the nooks and crannies of caves. It's important to note, though, that the volume of bosses does leave some being duplicates or stronger 'regular' enemies. 

There’s a decent variety of different fights on offer too. You’ll cross blades with single human-sized warriors, as well as with the Elden Ring equivalent of those Chinese Dragon Puppets, and each fight usually offers at least one or two things that make it interesting. In particular, the second half of the fight against Messmer is stunning, even if it also left me splattered all over the floor more times than I care to remember. 

Even the new basic enemy mobs can put up a fight, and I highly recommend you leave most of the inhabitants of the opening plains alone until you’ve acclimatized to things. Even then, you're constantly coming up against new mobs and special encounters that have new ways to murder you, and isn't that what these games are all about? 

Hitting Your Head Against The Brick Wall(s)

A big point of focus in Shadow of the Erdtree has been on exploration, but this time with the twist of having much more verticality to it. You’re constantly having to either look for spirit vents to launch yourself upwards, or pick your way carefully down the side of hills and mountains. There were countless dead-ends that eventually ended up leading me to places once I’d thrown caution to the wind and started launching myself off random cliffs. 

This new exploration is mostly a joy, giving you a new way of looking at the world once you wrap your head around it. That said, the sheer scope of what there is to find in this DLC can sometimes make things more than a little tricky. Those map marker hints are great and all, but after 4 hours of running around a lightning-stricken mountainside with zero results, I’m ready to start ignoring them entirely.

The Verdict

When all is said and done, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is exactly what people are expecting. This is a new slice of Elden Ring with more challenges, exploration, and heavy lore implications than you can shake a broken sword at.  The new perspective on exploration is a lot of fun and results in many eureka moments, even if you can also be left wondering how exactly you were supposed to figure this stuff out on your own. 

The real truth is that Shadow of the Erdtree has some of the best bosses of the entire series, in terms of both mechanics and design, and also gives us another 30+ hours of Elden Ring to play. At this point, it would have to do something atrocious to warrant anything less than adoration and praise at least, as long as you're already on board. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't look to this DLC as the thing to finally help you 'get' this franchise/genre/monolith. 

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was reviewed on PC via Steam with a copy provided by the Developer over the course of 32 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.